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"Write a paper on X". Cool. Read about X, learn about X, sit down to write paper that will be read once and thrown in the trash and that a billion other people have already written... motivation goes out the window. I can already write well (I've written 1,000 of these goddamn things) and I already know the material that's going in the paper. No one truly cares about what I'm about to write—no one needs it, and no one really even wants it. Suddenly a blank wall is more interesting.

Give me a real need to learn something or just let my curiosity take me where it will, and I'm the world's most dangerous carnivore. I'll run a problem down and eat its damn heart, then take out the rest of the herd for funsies. Otherwise? I'm probably boned.

The elimination of the uselessness of the end product that comes with doing actual work rather than "homework" has helped a lot, but it's still something I have to fight, years later. The multi-year process of adjusting my image of the way thought I ought to be to accommodate the fact that I simply was not compatible with a formal educational setting really sucked. Those were some sad years full of serious self-loathing. My self-loathing is far more lighthearted now:-)

I still hate maintaining systems and chasing bugs that don't require much sleuthing. Any time I'm required to make some "quick hacks" to fix something in an ugly way for lack of time is a bad day, and I'll go home in a bad mood and show up the next day in a bad mood. I'm probably the happiest at work either designing systems or fixing things that have broken in strange ways, when I'm fully engaged in a problem for hours on end. Exercising the clever-muscle in my brain is great and makes the hours fly like nothing else, and playing grown-up legos when designing is fun. Practically everything else about being a programmer sucks, but WTF else am I going to do? At least it's fun some of the time, which beats most jobs.

As with any personal trait or behavior I'd guess I'm far from being alone.

Yeah, a US government worth overthrowing by violence won't obey rules of engagement. No number of private small arms would do any good. It's a bit tougher to run around plinking enemy soldiers when their response isn't just to try to find you and kill you, but also to find out who you are and start hurting people you care about, or to just bomb the shit out of every nearby town. Kind of kills morale. Leads to widespread informing by people who don't want to be bombed because rebels bought some food in their town.

It's a bit different in other states, because powerful outside forces (the US, Europe) can support uprisings and sometimes even enforce no-fly zones with impunity. We can say "don't play too rough or we'll crash your little party", while sending guns and supplies over the border. No-one can do that to the US in the foreseeable future, and likely no-one would try.

Only hope would be widespread defection among the military. The second amendment hasn't been useful as the "ammo box" option of democracy for decades, at least.

Woe unto any fool who doesn't act with extreme caution when dealing with law enforcement.

Goes for when you're driving, too. In my experience, a cop car is far more likely to suddenly do something dangerous and stupid on the road than the average vehicle. They're worse than makeup-applying cellphone-talking soccer moms. Plus, I assume they'll ticket and/or arrest your ass if you're in a wreck with them even if it was their fault, either because they're just dicks or to cover their ass, or both.

Doesn't say anything about their rules regarding gun use slowing them down, which isn't surprising since that doesn't seem terribly plausible. They fucked up plenty, but not for that reason.

Better look for another example if you intend to hold the same position in the future. Or keep on with this one and hope no-one bothers to Google it again. That works for... well, most people, I suppose.